Has Moscow finally got the message? Israel cannot and will not tolerate the deployment of Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft missiles in Syria. If Moscow will not deliver the system to President Bashar Assad's regime before 2014, Israelis can breathe easier. Those missiles, which would threaten civil and military aircraft flying over Israel, could be a real game changer. Therefore, Israel is not bluffing even if it means a dangerous confrontation with the Russians. (Prior to the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Israel ignored the Egyptian Army's surreptitious movement of Russian SAM anti-aircraft missiles into the Suez Canal zone in flagrant violation of the 'cease-fire in place'. When the Egyptians later launched their surprise attack they had an aerial umbrella in place that protected their ground forces crossing the waterway. The IDF paid a heavy price in blood when those missiles wreaked havoc on Israeli jets trying to assist the vastly outnumbered IDF soldiers on the eastern side of the Canal.) Moreover, an S-300 system in Syria could threaten any future preventative Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear weapons program as well as instigating both Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza to step up their attacks on the Jewish state.

President Barack Obama has said there is no crisis between the U.S. and Israel and the special relations with the Israel people will not go way. However Obama also told Fox News that he was still awaiting answers from Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. Answers to demands made by Secretary Hillary Clinton required to rectify the Israeli announcement, during Vice President Joe Biden's visit, on 1600 new apartments to be built beyond the old 1967 line (Green Line) in Jerusalem. Analyst David Essing is of the view the Obama administration is now pressing Israel for concessions that will not only persuade West Bank Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to participate in the proximity talks but to also jump-start the U.S. mediated negotiation once they get going.

Palestinian terrorists in Gaza escalated their rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli civilians this week - the Israeli response came within hours with pin-point air strikes. On Gaza's southern border, Egyptian security forces also repulsed Palestinians rioters who stormed the border area in protest over Egypt's blocking of the arms smuggling tunnels. In another milestone, Israel has uncovered 'Iron Dome', a state-of-the art missile defense system designed to intercept Kassam rockets fired at Israeli population centers from Gaza. Analyst David Essing also has some thoughts on the outcome of the failed Al-Qaeda attempt to blow up an American airliner and the reaction of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Joseph Trumpeldor was an early Zionist activist, notable for helping organize the Zion Mule Corps and bringing Jewish immigrants to Palestine. Trumpeldor was fatally wounded while defending the settlement Tel-Hai against Arab attacks and was killed together with seven other defenders.

Labor party leader Ehud Barak is now wrestling with the most difficult question of his long and distinguished political and military career - should he resign as defense minister and topple the Olmert government after the scathing Winnograd enquiry into the Second Lebanon War or is his first duty to carry on reforming the Israel Defense Forces? The stakes are extremely high. All the opinion polls indicate that Bibi Netanyahu's Likud party would win an early election and form the next government. This at a time the Jewish state faces a mounting nuclear threat from Iran, relentless Palestinian rocketing from the Gaza Strip and faltering peace talks with West Bank Palestinians. The questions of the honorable politician and true patriot have created a unique and painful dilemma that includes the families of fallen soldiers and reserve soldiers who feel they were let down by an incompetent Olmert government during the recent war against Hezbollah.

A group of IDF reserve soldiers interrupted the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee during its presentation of a report into the Second Lebanon War of 2005. They protested committee members focusing on military aspects of the war while not dealing with the government's responsibility. Although scathing in its criticism, the report itself revealed no surprises - the IDF was ill prepared to go to war after Hezbollah guerrillas crossed the northern border killing 7 soldiers and abducting 2 others while rocketing Galilee with Katyushas. But above and beyond the Hezbollah war, IsraCast says the report came against the background of a similar situation evolving in the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip where Palestinian terrorists continuously rocket the Israeli town of Sderot.

What are the implications of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's statement this week that he will not resign even if severely criticized by the final report of the Winnograd enquiry into the Second Lebanon war? Defense minister Ehud Barak, leader of Labor, Olmert's key coalition partner indicates he has not yet decided whether he will keep his pledge to quit the government after the final Winnograd report expected in another month or so. However, IsraCast says opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu of Likud will also be tested in the Winnograd aftermath.

On the first anniversary of the Second Lebanon War, Israel was soul searching about the 163 Israeli soldiers and civilians who were killed and the several thousand others who were wounded last summer. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert toured part of the northern border declaring he was right to launch the war in the face of the Hezbollah provocations. IsraCast is of the view that Olmert is now on political death row trying to appeal a condemnatory verdict by the final Winograd report that could lead to his resignation.

With his election victory in the Labor party, Ehud Barak must now show the Israeli people he has answers to their pressing security problems. IsraCast is of the view that Barak's comeback is a direct result of Israel's failure to win the Second Lebanon War last summer, an event that has shaken public confidence in the nation's leadership. Barak's expected appointment as defense minister may strengthen Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - but if Barak succeeds he could eventually upstage Olmert and become the 'de facto' leader in security and foreign affairs.

The publication of the long awaited Winograd testimony has done little to alter the Israeli public's perception that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz fumbled the Second Lebanon War last summer. Olmert and Peretz, both inexperienced in conducting a war, rushed into battle with a military commander determined to prove that his pilots could win a guerrilla war with Hezbollah. When this strategy got bogged down, all three were at a loss of what to do. An IsraCast analysis indicates there although Olmert may have survived the first wave of public criticism, he now faces a political campaign of attrition calling on him to step down.

Not only Israel, but countries in the Middle East and the international community are still pondering what happened to the vaunted Israel Defense Forces Israel in last summer's war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. The Winograd Commission has painted the the broad outline focusing on the faulty decision making of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz. But it is Halutz's predecessor, Moshe Yaalon who has spelled out what what went wrong from the strategic and tactical points of view. Yaalon who served as Chief of Staff from 2002 , after the IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon, until the spring of 2005, has given extensive interviews to the Maariv newspaper and Channel One TV. IsraCast summarizes these two important insights into what went wrong in the Second Lebanon war.

The scathing findings of the Winograd interim report were harsher than expected and have rocked Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his coalition government. But Olmert has absorbed the immediate impact, rolling with the punches and determined to survive. But as previously discussed by IsraCast, the Prime Minister could be at the mercy of Labor, his main coalition partner which faces a major dilemma over remaining in an Olmert-led cabinet.

All bets are off after the Winograd Inquiry published what amounts to a condemnation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's handling of last summer's 'Second Lebanon War'. Also hauled over the coals were Defense Minister Amir Peretz, former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, the entire cabinet and successive Israeli governments that ignored the Hezbollah threat after the IDFs unilateral evacuation of southern Lebanon in May 2006. IsraCast reports that after the dust settles, public opinion and its impact on Israel's domestic politics will apparently determine what happens next.

The futures of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz will be on the line when the Winograd Commission releases its partial report on April 30th.As previously reported by IsraCast, the chances are good that Olmert will survive the interim findings. The long awaited conclusions will deal with the period from the IDF evacuation of the security zone in southern Lebanon back in May 2000 until the first five days of the war that erupted on July 12th 2006. Leaks to the media from Winograd testimony have highlighted the responsibility of former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz for failing to respond to warnings from senior officers before the war and his inexperience in conducting a war against the Hizballah guerillas.

As Israel's Independence Day draws near, the Jewish state faces a range of evolving prospects and dangers. At the same time, if Prime minister Ehud Olmert survives the Winograd Commission into the Second Lebanon War, he will have likely have new defense and finance ministers at his side. IsraCast analyzes the current situation and the domestic political scene and possibly some dramatic changes.

On the very day the Arab League was convening in Saudi Arabia to approve their peace plan, Palestinian terrorists launched seven more Qassam rockets at Israel. For the first time since last November, Israeli helicopters went into action to strike the rocket launchers. In the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee, the new IDF Chief of Staff Gaby Ashkenazi that the Hamas military buildup in Gaza must be eliminated one way or another. IsraCast presents a detailed assessment of major changes being implemented by the new Chief of Staff in light of the Second Lebanon War.

Former prime minister Shimon Peres has starred in the first installment of closed door testimony to the Winograd Inquiry into last summer's war with Hezbollah. Deputy-Premier Peres, who has voiced public support for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in effect hauled Olmert over the coals for his performance after the Hezbollah attack that killed eight IDF soldiers and abducted two others. Maj. Gen.(res.) Amos Malka, IDF intelligence chief at the time of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000 also blamed the IDF General Staff for being preoccupied with the war on Palestinian terrorism. IsraCast analyzes part of the testimony against the backdrop of Israel's political scene.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert acted swiftly after the Winograd Enquiry into the war with Hizballah announced that it would include 'personal conclusions' in its partial agreement to be made public in the second half of April. This will apply to the Prime Minister, the Defense Minister and the IDF Chief of Staff. At a meeting of his ruling Kadima party, Olmert admittted that he was an unpopular prime minister but rejected his critics attacks. A IsraCast analysis of the Olmert speech indicates that the Prime Minister may have tried to pre-empt public reaction to possible criticism in the upcoming Winograd findings.

Will Prime Minister Ehud Olmert be forced to resign next month when the Winograd Enquiry makes public its interim findings on the recent war with Hezbollah? Kol Israel, the publicly run radio network today reported that the commission has decided to issue 'personal conclusion' about role of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and the retired IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz.